Overview

For Presort First-Class Mail® Letters, Cards, and Flats, the service performance measurement system of U.S. Postal Service® uses documented arrival time at a designated postal facility to start the measurement clock, and an Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMB®) scan by an external, third-party reporter to stop-the-clock. Mail piece tracking from IMB® in-process scans is used in conjunction with the external data to extrapolate results for the population of Presort First-Class Mail® using Full-Service Intelligent Mail®. Data collected by U.S. Postal Service® are provided to an independent, external contractor to calculate service measurement and compile the necessary reports. The system used for this reporting is called the Intelligent Mail® Accuracy and Performance System (iMAPS).

The external contractor determines service performance based on the elapsed time between the start-the-clock event recorded by U.S. Postal Service® and the stop-the-clock event recorded by anonymous households and small businesses that report delivery information directly to the contractor. The service measure consists of two parts: (1) how long mail pieces take to get through processing, and (2) how long mail takes from the last processing scan to delivery. The second portion is used as a delivery factor differential to determine the percent of all Presort First-Class Mail® delivered on the last processing date versus the percent delivered after the last processing date. Service performance is measured by comparing the transit time to USPS® service standards to determine the percent of mail delivered on time.

The Service Performance Measurement (SPM) application of the Full-Service Seamless Acceptance and Service Performance system (SASP) serves as the data source for iMAPS. SPM captures data from all Full-Service Intelligent Mail® and applies business rules for service measurement before sending data to iMAPS.

Service performance measurement was suspended for mail originating from or destined to Caribbean District in FY 2018 Quarter 1 and FY 2018 Quarter 2 due to the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Measurement resumed in FY 2018 Quarter 3.

Performance Highlights

National Presort First-Class Mail® Overnight performance in FY 2018 Quarter 4 was 96.5 percent on time, which is 0.1 points lower than the same period last year. National Two-Day performance was 95.9 percent on time, which is 0.1 points lower than the same period last year. National Three-To-Five-Day performance was 93.8 percent on time, which is 0.1 points higher when compared to the same period last year.

Eastern Area led the nation in Overnight service performance, with 97.1 percent on time. Pacific Area led the nation in Two-Day service performance, with 96.7 percent on time in FY 2018 Quarter 4. Eastern Area led the nation in Three-To-Five-Day service performance, with 94.2 percent on time.

In FY 2018 Quarter 4, 29 districts met or exceeded the Overnight performance target of 96.80, 16 districts met or exceeded the Two-Day service performance target of 96.50, and 3 districts met or exceeded the Three-To-Five-Day service performance target of 95.25. Alaska led the nation in Overnight service performance with 98.9 percent on time and in Two-Day service performance with 98.7 percent on time, and Greater Indiana led the nation in Three-To-Five-Day service performance with 96.2 percent on time.

National FY 2018 annual service performance for Presort First-Class Mail® declined across all Service Standards compared to FY 2017. Overnight service score decreased by 0.5 points, Two-Day service score decreased by 0.7 points, and Three-to-Five-Day service score decreased by 1.2 points.

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